The best water filters for chloramine

Chloramine is chlorine combined with ammonia. Utilities add it to keep water disinfected on its long trip through the pipes, and unlike chlorine, it doesn't leave water that sits out. EPA says water with chloramine that meets its standards is safe for drinking, cooking and bathing, so a filter for it is about taste and smell. This guide ranks the filters certified to reduce it, for readers who want it out.

What a filter is certified to reduce is on its listing. Every chloramine claim here was read from the certifiers' own listings, NSF, WQA and IAPMO, on October 21, 2026. TapBuff has not tested these filters.

The picks at a glance

The picks at a glance

Filter	Pick	Certified for	Five years
Brondell Coral UC300 Under Sink Water Filtration System	Lowest five-year cost	Chloramine, Lead, PFOA and 3 more	$900
Aquasana Clean Water Machine (AQ-CWM2)	Lowest cost on the counter	Chloramine, Lead, PFOA and 3 more	$1,061
Aquasana Claryum Direct Connect (AQ-MF-1)	On your own faucet	Chloramine, Lead, PFOA and 3 more	$1,078
AquaTru Classic (AT2000)	Most claims	Chloramine, Lead, Copper and 8 more	$1,344
Five-year cost for a household of 3 at the makers’ list prices, cartridges included. A plus sign means a part due in those five years has no published price.

Does your water have chloramine?

In EPA's latest round of unregulated contaminant sampling, from 2023 to 2025, utilities also reported the disinfectant they add. Of the 10,222 utilities in TapBuff's copy of that data, 2,463 reported chloramine at some or all of their sampling points. By the populations they report to EPA, they serve about 120 million people. Among them are Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Diego, Dallas, Denver and Austin.

TapBuff's report for each utility shows what it reported; the lookup at the bottom of this page finds yours. CDC says some utilities switch between chlorine and chloramine with the seasons, so your utility's annual water quality report is the word on what it uses now.

Filters that are not certified for chloramine

Under NSF/ANSI 42, chlorine and chloramine are separate claims, and NSF says chloramine is harder for treatment systems to reduce. A filter listed for chlorine alone has not been certified for chloramine. That rules out most of the filters people own:

• Pitchers. No pitcher in TapBuff's catalog carries a chloramine claim, Brita's included. Outside the catalog, Costco's Kirkland Signature pitcher has one on WQA's listing. Culligan's MaxClear, a gravity dispenser, is the one pour-through filter here with the claim. The best water filter pitchers ranks them for what their listings do cover.
• Faucet filters. All four that TapBuff tracks, from PUR, Brita and Instapure, are listed for chlorine, not chloramine.
• Shower filters. NSF/ANSI 177, the shower filter standard, covers free available chlorine only, so no shower filter can carry a chloramine claim. The best shower filters ranks them for chlorine.
• Whole-house filters. None in TapBuff's catalog carries the claim. Aquasana says its Rhino Chloramines uses catalytic carbon made for chloramine and was independently tested to NSF/ANSI 42 to remove up to 83% of it. That is Aquasana's own testing, not certification: WQA lists the Rhino's tank only for material safety. Kinetico's Chloraban CRS 1060 and CRS 1100 carry the claim on WQA's listing, rated for 65,000 and 119,700 gallons; Kinetico sells them through local dealers, and TapBuff found no published price. The best whole-house water filters ranks the systems TapBuff tracks by what their listings cover.

Some refrigerator filters carry the claim too. Chlorine vs. chloramine lists them, with how the two disinfectants differ in daily life.

How the picks are ranked

Every pick carries a chloramine claim under NSF/ANSI 42 on a certifier's listing, so they are ranked by what each costs over five years at the maker's list prices, with what else its listing covers beside it. The figures are for a household of three using 3 gallons a day for drinking and cooking. Each is the system's list price plus every filter due in five years, with the first filters in the box. Installation is left out.

The picks

Brondell Coral UC300 Under Sink Water Filtration System

Lowest five-year costUnder-sink carbon

Best for a certified chloramine claim for the least over five years

Strengths

• Chloramine, chlorine, taste and odor and Class I particulates under NSF/ANSI 42, on WQA's listing
• Lead, PFOA/PFOS, mercury, MTBE and VOCs under NSF/ANSI 53, and 16 claims under NSF/ANSI 401, microplastics among them
• The lowest five-year cost of any filter here with a chloramine claim

Trade-offs

• $79.99 a set of three filters, replaced together at 600 gallons or 12 months
• Its own faucet goes through a separate 7/16-inch hole in the sink, so it takes some installing

Aquasana Clean Water Machine (AQ-CWM2)

Lowest cost on the counterCountertop

Best for a chloramine claim with nothing to install, for the least over five years

Strengths

• Chloramine, chlorine and Class I particulates under NSF/ANSI 42, on WQA's listing
• Lead, PFOA/PFOS, mercury, asbestos, cysts, MTBE and VOCs under NSF/ANSI 53
• No plumbing: you fill it from the tap

Trade-offs

• Filters come only in pairs, each rated 300 gallons or about 6 months
• No fluoride, arsenic or nitrate claim
• Not the older AQ-CWM, which takes a different filter

Aquasana Claryum Direct Connect (AQ-MF-1)

On your own faucetUnder-sink carbon

Best for a chloramine claim with no new faucet to install

Strengths

• Chloramine, chlorine and Class I particulates under NSF/ANSI 42, on IAPMO's listing, at 1.5 gallons a minute
• Lead, PFOA/PFOS, mercury, MTBE and VOCs under NSF/ANSI 53, and 16 claims under NSF/ANSI 401
• Connects to the cold-water line and feeds the faucet you have

Trade-offs

• $91.99 a filter at the one-time price, rated 784 gallons or six months
• Every gallon of cold water from your faucet runs through it, rinse water included: above about 4 gallons a day, it runs out before six months

AquaTru Classic (AT2000)

Most claimsCountertop reverse osmosis

Best for chloramine with fluoride, arsenic and nitrate claims and nothing to install

Strengths

• Chloramine, chlorine and Class I particulates under NSF/ANSI 42, on IAPMO's listing
• Fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, lead and copper under NSF/ANSI 58, and PFOA, PFOS and VOCs under NSF/ANSI 53
• Reverse osmosis with no plumbing: you fill it from the tap

Trade-offs

• The water it rejects collects in its tap-water tank, and you pour it out
• Three filters on different schedules: 6, 12 and 24 months

The other nine with a chloramine claim

These carry the claim too. Each costs more over five years than a pick that does the same job:

• A.O. Smith AO-US-200, $980. WQA lists chloramine only for the version with its own faucet.
• Aquasana Claryum 2-Stage, $990. Lead and PFOA/PFOS claims like the Coral's, with filters every six months.
• Multipure Aquaversa, $1,215. No PFOA/PFOS claim, and its price leaves out the plumbing kit.
• Aquasana Claryum 3-Stage Max Flow, $1,278. A faster 0.72 gallons a minute through its own faucet.
• Brita Hub, $1,545. On the counter, with a lead claim and no PFAS claim.
• Brondell Capella RC250, $1,950. Reverse osmosis under the sink, with fluoride and arsenic claims.
• Ninja HydraSense, $2,050. On the counter, with the broadest PFAS claim, Total PFAS.
• Aquasana SmartFlow, $2,917. Reverse osmosis under the sink, with nitrate and fluoride claims.
• Culligan MaxClear, $8,840. A gravity dispenser whose filters are rated 50 gallons each.

The under-sink, countertop and reverse osmosis guides rank each kind against everything else of its type, chloramine claim or not. For a health claim, the lead, PFAS and fluoride guides rank filters by those.